Reports

Corporate Social Responsibility

BCCA recognizes that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a rapidly evolving issue and affects companies differently depending on their size, location and specialization. BCCA recognizes the importance of CSR, and encourages companies to voluntarily undertake initiatives that enable them to operate in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner.

What is Corporate Social Responsibility?
A Corporate Social Responsibility code or CSR is part management tool, part promotional tool, and part decision making framework. CSRs go by many names including: corporate governance, triple bottom line, corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship and corporate ethics, to name a few. While at first glance a CSR looks only like a PR tool, incorporating a CSR into your organization can provide a real competitive advantage by streamlining your corporate decision making, increasing operational transparency, reduce risks and build on your organizations social capital. CSRs can define your organizations relationships by informing others of what your organization is about and what they can expect from you. CSRs are about relating your social and environmental performance directly to your financial performance. Developing a CSR is relatively straight forward; you decide what to include and what it will mean to your business.
Take a few minutes and ask yourself these five questions:

What are your company’s values and goals?
Decide what else affects your decision making other than your bottom line.

Who are your key stakeholders, not just your shareholders?
List all the groups who affect your decision making and are affected by your decisions.

What strengths and weakness are there in your corporate decision making process?
Look to issues that leave you saying “I don’t know.”

How do your social and environmental performances affect your financial performance?
How do your hiring policies, community involvement, and environmental practices impact your bottom line?

Why should you have a CSR Statement?
CSRs can be an avenue to correcting behaviour or to making business more sustainable. CSRs are about developing Social Capital and are a valuable and real way of saying what your doing and doing what you say. They state in plain language what an organization, company, business, or corporate entity believes in and strives for. CSRs show what stakeholders can expect from you and what you expect from stakeholders. CSRs are fundamentally a strategic tool for medium to long term planning and success. Corporate Social Responsibility codes incorporate the idea of the Triple Bottom Line. The Triple Bottom Line represents equal consideration to People, the Planet and Profit; relating all three to each other and showing that each one is dependant on the other two.

Social Capital is the goal of adopting a CSR, which means strengthening the social connection and interdependencies of the public with private business through increased dialog and considerations for both sides of the relationship. Public expectation for companies to operate responsibly means business will have to be able to demonstrate and document their social and environmental activities particularly when dealing with the public sector. Contracts may be awarded to companies that have adopted a CSR over one that has not even without the requirement of having one. Being able to demonstrate and document your relationship to your community can create a real advantage. Given the choice between two similar companies, the decision may come down to who will be a greater positive influence on the project or who has a stronger connection to their community.

Who has a CSR?
Many companies have a CSR, in fact the majority of them have incorporated them as part of the core of their business. CSRs are more than just transparent operations and community involvement. CSRs can ensure the long term sustainability of a community, even after you’ve finished doing business there. Take a look at what some other companies in Canada are doing with their CSR.

The BCCA Annual Report 2018 covers the fiscal year of April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018. In this year, the BCCA Board approved a new three year strategic plan focusing on four key pillars: Construction Projects, Skilled Workforce, Technology and Community.

The BCCA does not promote one project delivery method over another, but advocates for a complete understanding of all methods available to an owner. BCCA’s opinion is that the industry should proceed with caution and be aware that IPD has many challenges to our standards and practices for market fairness. We should work with public owners to advocate for the development of an education program for all the stakeholders in IPD.

The BCCA Annual Report 2017 covers a significant and transformative year for the BC Construction Association. This report covers a note from the Board and President, Programs & Services, Partnerships, and our Association Network.

As the largest employer in BC’s goods sector, employing nearly 250,000 British Columbians who collectively earn $13 billion in wages annually and contribute 8.6% of GDP, the construction sector offers powerful economic development opportunities in communities across the province.

This new report is called “Procuring Innovation in Construction” and lays out the case for the sector to recognize the procurement process as the key for driving innovative projects and sector development.

The BC Construction Association is pleased to lead the charge on this important issue, and proud to have co-funded this report. We look forward to continuing the conversation and welcome all stakeholders to join us.

Green buildings, also known as sustainable buildings, are structures that are designed to use valuable resources such as energy, water, materials, and land more efficiently than buildings that are simply built to code.

Fair and Transparent: Implementing the CAMF for Construction Procurement stresses the need for partnership and outlines the struggle to successfully establish reasonable standards for government, Crown corporations and publicly-funded agencies’ use in capital asset planning.

Skilled Workforce: The objective of this assessment was to evaluate the financial well-being impacts of employment programs and initiatives administered by the British Columbia Construction Association (BCCA).

Job Opportunities and Business Succession is a thorough report on the impact of retirements, the state of business opportunities (for business sale, transfer or close), and discussion of business transition, planning tools, and other considerations for business owners.

Skilled Workforce: This paper was commissioned to promote discussion with regard to the next evolution of the BC trades training system; of promoting an understanding of the core elements of the training system and their functions; and, to propose a series of next steps for moving forward.